Lost in Your Eyes
by EnglishBrat
Summary: Hoorah! I'm back! This is an l/j love/hate fic that centers mostly around Lily...Not half as fluffy as VWAK, and a lot longer :) R/R!!
1. Stolen Away

A/N: *cracks fingers* Righto, then, a bit of explanation, wot? Let's see….I've had writer's block for the past 3 months or something. Everything I tried to write turned out horrible. *looks sad* 'Twas a sad time for me. But lately, after beta reading IceAmethyst's story, I've…regained inspiration. I wrote a lot of this last night before I fell asleep :) Don't be surprised if you find some similarities to Emerald Eyes, because I write from what I'm…influenced by. But it's original enough, I assure you. I'll try extra hard to actually work hard on this one, the way I did with Vengeance With a Kiss. (VWAK! w00t!) So this is just your average l/j, except…longer. Lol. I'm not sure yet whether I'll end it when Lily and James die (*tear*) or after they fall in love…I'll figure it out later. Lol I have time! I think…

**Anyway, I should conclude this because…it's a long Author's Note. :) Reviews are MUCH appreciated, they're why I keep writing stories. They give me motivation and inspiration, and all that crap. *smiles* So please take a couple seconds out of your busy, busy day and review! Flame my ass off, if it pleases you. Whatever works…**

**And now…*breathes heavily* Without further ado:**

***

It was a dark and stormy night. Rain beat down hard upon the homes of England, an somewhere, in a very nondescript place, a very quiet and a very boring place, Lily Evans tossed. A particularly loud clap of thunder had roused her from sleep.

_And from a good dream,_ she thought grumpily.

Lily twisted and pulled her blanket above her head, waited a moment, then flopped over and to the other side and did the same. She continued this for several minutes until it seemed obvious that trying to fall back asleep now was hopeless.

She sighed and sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes to rid them of their graininess and turning on the lamp. After a minute of contemplation, she decided the best thing to do was go downstairs and have something to drink. Although already wide awake, Lily still harbored the hope that some properly heated milk would get her right back to sleep.

She slipped out of bed and put on slippers and a robe before shuffling out of her room. The house was dark and quiet, but neither particularly bothered Lily. In fact, she rather enjoyed the blackness that others would find oppressive. 

Upon reaching the kitchen, she turned the light on and glanced at the clock. It read 2:30. Sighing, Lily set a pan on the stove and sat down to wait for it to heat.

There was not much to do downstairs at 2:30 in the morning, Lily realized. The rain had subsided slightly, and nothing was happening. Lily twiddled her thumbs in her lap a bit. She listened idly to the steady ticking of the grandfather clock in the hall.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. BANG.

Wait…Bang? No, that wasn't right. Lily stood up from the table to investigate the mysterious sound.

The front door stood open, with rain already beginning to make a puddle near it. Standing in the doorway was a rather tall man, with a brown beard trimmed so it reached it chest.

_Which_, Lily thought, _is a little weird._

He wore a long, dark purple robe with a black cape that glistened wetly. Round glasses perched on his nose - his rather large nose, thought Lily with a smirk - and he wore a tall, pointed hat. In his hand was a black umbrella, which he was currently shaking out onto the carpet.

"Blasted thing," the man muttered. "'Oo needs a bloody door, enyway, whin you ken apparate? Bah!"

Lily looked at him with wide, curious eyes, then firmed her jaw. There was a stranger in the house, and she wasn't going to stand here and watch him! She ran up to the man and kicked him as hard as she could in the shin.

"AUGH!" he yelped, and hopped around on his good leg. Lily giggled and chased after him, eager to do more.

"Stop right there!" the man said loudly, brandishing his umbrella. Lily skidded to a halt, the black point only an inch from her face. She grinned uncertainly at the man.

"That's better," he muttered. "Must be the right bleedin' house, stewpid girl's got spirit 'nuff for it."

"It's not nice to swear," Lily intoned in a lecturing manner. The man gave her a nasty look, but she pretended not to notice. "And anyway, I'll point out you're in MY house, so you'd better explain yourself right now. Before I call the cops," she added as an afterthought.

The man gave a dry chuckle and pulled out a smaller cape. He put it around Lily's shoulders. She didn't take it off - it was pretty, and if the man wanted to give her presents, who was she to argue? - but she did begin tapping her foot. The man laughed again.

"Ye're coming with me, love. I'm not here to hurt ye, but I must warn ye're in great dainger. Greet dainger." He shook his head disapprovingly, then took her hand and began to lead her to the door. "I'm takin' ye te Hogwarts! Ye'll be safe there, orders of Dumbledore, ye know. Ye'll be allowed back, dun't wurry. Soon as the Ministry takes care o' this, ye can get ye're own money, tew. Ah'm not payin' fer everything!"

Lily was by now thoroughly confused, and not only from the man's appalling accent. But curiosity overcame her, and she figured he looked friendly enough, no matter what his manners. 

"Ok," she said loudly. "But where are my clothes?"

"Greet! They'll be sent tew ye, don' ye wurry!" the man exclaimed happily.

He pulled her hand and she stepped out into the rain. The door closed behind her, and Lily could not repress a little shiver of excitement. She didn't know what was happening, but whatever it was, it promised to be exciting.

***

**A/N: Ooooooh, foreshadowing! Fun. This is more of a prologue…type…thingie than a chapter. The other ones should be a good bit longer :) Please R/R!!!**


	2. Introductions or A Friendship Formed

A/N: Hoorah! 2 reviews! Which is…more than I hoped for!! *looks happy* So here's…chapter two. Obviously. I tried to make the characters seem as 11-year-old ish as possible, since that's a problem in a lot of l/j stories. Just remember it's like end of fifth grade/beginning of sixth grade age. *smiles* Hope you enjoy! R/R

***

Lily stood uncertainly in the middle of the throng at King's Cross. The man - now that she came to think of it, he had never given his name - the man had tapped her on the shoulder with a broad wink and a murmur of "Ye'll dew fine!" before disappearing. Lily looked around. Her hands were filled with a cage containing a light brown owl with unusual green eyes named Butterball and a huge chest filled with clothes that had, as predicted, arrived for her lay at her feet. In the chest were also a multitude of books she had bought in the five days since she'd left home. 

_Seems more like a month, _Lily thought. 

It was still hard to believe, that she was a witch and all, but Lily had taken it all in stride. She liked to take life one step at a time, and this was just another step, if a rather unexpected one. In any case, she had written to her parents twice already that week, assuring them that she was fine and informing them about her discovery - that she was, in fact, a witch.

Suddenly, she spotted a boy with a chest looking a lot like hers, an owl, and a worried-looking mother behind him. Lily, happy to find someone like her and worried she would lose them from sight, quickly broke into a run after them.

"Excuse me!" she shouted, dodging between people. The two of them stopped and watched her.

Breathing hard, Lily looked at the people she had hailed. The woman, obviously the boy's mother, had dark hair gathered at the nape of her neck. She wore an ordinary dress, and was very plain and motherly. The boy looked about her age, with his mother's black hair - which looked, Lily noted, decidedly uncombed - brown eyes, glasses, and a slight build. Lily noted with pleasure she was several inches taller than him.

"Um," she said after catching her breath, "I was wondering…I was wondering if you were headed the same place I was?" She looked pointedly at the boy's chest and hers, then turned back to the woman. "I'm kind of new to thing whole thing, so…I'm not really sure where to go."

"Oh, you must be going to Hogwarts too!" the woman exclaimed. "How lovely! I'm Mrs. Potter, and this is my son James."

James muttered something that sounded vaguely like a greeting and held out his hand. Lily shook it and introduced herself with a smile. The woman continued.

"We're almost there. The platform if just a little way further…But we better hurry, or we may miss the train!"

The three of them trotted off, Lily and James being herded forward by Mrs. Potter the whole way. Finally, they arrived at a wall between platforms 9 and 10. Lily looked quizzically at the woman.

"It's very simple, see," Mrs. Potter said. "All you have to do is walk _through_ the wall. Make sure you don't have doubts, or it may not work!"

She kissed James on the cheek and ruffled his hair. 

"You two have fun now! Don't get into trouble, Jamesie!"

She gave Lily one last smile and vanished into the crowd.

_These people have an annoying habit of doing so, _Lily thought irritably. She peered at James.

"Well," he said after a minute, "I guess we should go."

Lily nodded, but he insides roiled. Through a wall? Was the woman mad? Thankfully, James looked just as scared as she felt.

"You wanna…. You wanna do it together?" he asked timidly.

Lily nodded wordlessly and clasped his hand. It felt sweaty. 

"On three," she said. "One…two…two and a half…two and three quarters…THREE!"

The two of them ran forward with their eyes closed.

~

"Looks like there aren't that many seats left," Lily said to James. They had arrived just as someone blew a whistle and announced the 'last call for all Hogwarts students.' They made their way through the compartments, now, and so far every one of them had been full.

"There'll be some at the back," James said, but he sounded a little uncertain. "I mean…they wouldn't make us stand, would they?"

Lily grinned reassuringly at him, although the thought had crossed her mind once or twice.

Finally, they reached the second to last compartment and this one, thankfully, still had room for two.

"Hoorah!" a boy exclaimed. "Two more to add to the party! Sit! Sit!"

Lily smiled gratefully and sat down next to a pretty girl with long, wavy brown hair. James picked a spot between the boy that had shouted and another one with sandy hair.

"Well, I guess this compartment is full, so we should make introductions," the same boy said happily. He pointed to himself. "I am the great Sirius Black, at your service, now and always." He winked roguishly at Lily, who could not suppress a giggle.

The girl sitting beside her gave an annoyed sigh. "Whatever, Sirius. I'm Arabella Figg, the great keeper-in-line of the previously mentioned Sirius Black. It's nice to meet you all."

Sirius grinned and nudged James in the rib. "She just likes me," he whispered loudly.

Arabella rolled her eyes ostentatiously and turned to Lily. In the most nonchalant voice imaginable she said, "It's ok. Don't worry about Sirius, he's just delusional. I can't like him…I'm not one of those girls who's into lice-infested things." She ended with a sweet smile in Sirius' direction. Sirius winked at her, and she threw her hands up in exasperation.

"_Anyway_," another girl interjected loudly. She had black, red-streaked hair. Her sense of fashion seemed rather unusual to Lily - she sported fishnet tights with black boots, a white shirt with some holes in it, some heavy medallions around her neck, and a multitude of rings on her hands. Lily had a feeling this girl wouldn't think twice about standing up for herself. 

"I'm Ra'Mesha Brown, and I've had to put up with this for the past twenty minutes!"

Lily blinked. "Ra'Mesha?" she asked uncertainly.

Ra'Mesha shrugged. "My real name's Anne, but I don't think that fits me very well…" she grinned. "You can shorten it, if you want. I kinda like Sha, or Mesh."

Lily nodded. "I get it."

"I'm Remus Lupin," the blond-haired boy said. He smiled warmly at Lily and James. "Welcome to our little club! . . . If you can call it that after not even half an hour."

He was stockier in build than James or Sirius, though his face had a slight haggardness to it. It wasn't very noticeable, though, and he seemed more grounded than the others in the compartment. James gave him something that looked like a high five - _typical guy thing,_ thought Lily good-naturedly - and she smiled back at him.

"Pleased to meet you," she said politely. 

"I'm Vibrance," said another girl sitting near Lily, "or Vi, if you'd like. I can't _wait_ till Hogwarts," she added excitedly.

Vibrance had white-blonde, straight hair and gray eyes. Her lips were coated in lip gloss and her nails manicured. Lily sensed she was one of those typical fluff-brained girls and looked at her apprehensively. Vibrance smiled and pulled a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I know that look," she said cheerfully. "You think I'm one of those annoyingly preppy girls with nothing on her mind other than, 'what color will my nails be tomorrow?' Am I right? Well, I'm not, I promise you. I like looking my best, but that doesn't mean it's all I think about." Noticing the other girl's deep blush, she quickly tapped Lily's hand reassuringly. "It's ok, I get that a lot! I tend to kind of _know _what people are feeling. Call it a sixth sense, if you want, I think it's just because I'm ridiculously emotional…" she grinned again. "Show me any war movie, and I'll break down in tears!"

Lily smiled back, allayed of her fears and definitely liking this girl. "I'm sorry," she said. "And I'm very pleased to meet you, too," she added with a laugh.

"I guess I'm last," a boy said. "I'm Peter Pettigrew and I knew Sirius before I got on this train - which may or may not be a good thing. Still, I've figured out how to put up with him over the years…"

He was the shortest of the four boys, and still with baby fat on his face. Still, Lily decided, he was not bad looking, and he looked very friendly - much like everyone else here.

"Well!" exclaimed Sirius. He seemed to be about to burst from the effort of not talking for more than a minute. "Now that our introductions are complete, and now that you know all of the insanity contained in this little compartment, why don't you two introduce yourselves? We're _dying_ to know who you are!"

Lily grinned at him and tugged at a strand of her long red hair while she talked.

"I'm Lily Evans. I didn't know I was a witch until a couple days ago…I was kind of snatched out of my house. It's nice to know there are normal people in the wizarding world!"

The eight of them laughed at that, and James took the stage. The shyness that Lily had initially labeled him with was gone, and now he looked as close to Sirius as she thought anyone could get. He stood from his seat, ran a hand through his hair and announced,

"I'm James Potter, and this is the most interesting group of people I've ever come across. I'm a pureblood, I'm an oldest child, and this is my first year at Hogwarts. I can tell it's going to be fun, especially with such fantastic individuals!" He beamed and took a bow before raking a hand through his hair again.

The last statement was greeted with cheers of approval from the compartment, and much hooting from Sirius' side. He gave James the same odd high five and pulled him down to the seat next to him. Soon the group of eight were all talking animatedly, laughing at each other's jokes and making new ones. The whole group immediately clicked, and Lily knew she wouldn't be alone the first few days of school.

***

After the sorting in the Great Hall (they were Gryffindors, all of them, and it didn't surprise Lily. All of them were spunky, energetic, and certainly brave and loyal) Lily, Arabella, Sha, and Vibrance sat one side of the table, across from James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius. The headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, had finished his short speech and the Hogwarts children were invited to eat. Food appeared on the plates, a delicious array that had Lily's mouth watering. The Hall was silent for a full  minute, broken only by the sound of appreciative murmurs and loud lip smacking.

"So," Sirius said after stuffing a large salad into his mouth. "How - mmph - you all doin?"

Sha flicked off a piece of salad from her cheek and gave him a frosty glare. Sirius grinned back cheekily, exposing teeth filled with little bits of lettuce. Sha glowered at him and stuck her finger in a bowl of mashed potatoes. She lobbed the piece over so it landed squarely on Sirius' nose.

"Fine, Siri, sweetie," she said with a smile.

Lily burst out laughing, both at Sha's obvious satisfaction and Sirius' bewildered expression. Vibrance joined in with her, and Arabella was obviously restraining a smile.

"Sirius," Arabella said, leaning across the table and rubbing the potatoes off Sirius' nose, "I really think you're too young to be wearing makeup."

This time Remus, James, and Peter joined in the amusement. Sirius scowled and was silent for a few seconds. Before long, though, he had regained all of his cheeriness and was laughing as hard as the rest of them.

After dinner, the students were shown to their common room by the prefects and taught the password used to enter. James, Sirius, Lily, and Arabella settled around the fireplace on the loveseats to talk, while Peter, Remus, Vibrance, and Sha favored three overstuffed armchairs to read.

Time flew by, and before they knew it, the students were sent to bed by the prefects - most of which lost their temper at Sirius, who continuously came back down, using the lamest excuses he could conceive ("I think I forgot my dustball…it's a pet, you know, and I'm rather attached to it…") Eventually, though, they settled into their respective dorms for more talking; they were all too excited to sleep right away.

"Well," Lily said, sitting down heavily on the bed, clad in her pajamas, "this has been a _most _interesting day!"

"I'll say," Sha added with a laugh.

"Oh my God, this year is going to be so much fun! I just love listening to Remus - and James, and Sirius, and Peter!" Vibrance squealed.

Lily looked at her and grinned.

"I thought you were too engrossed in your book to notice what we were saying, Vi," she said teasingly.

Vibrance colored and tugged at her nightgown. "Well…I heard what I wanted to, that's all. They are fun, though, aren't they?"

"Definitely," Arabella agreed. "I can't wait till we're old enough to date them."

"_Date _them?" Lily squeaked. She pulled her hair back into a messy bun to sleep.

"Yeah!" Arabella said happily. "Sirius is really nice to me! And Vi, I can totally see you and Remus together."

Vibrance beamed at the comment and lied down on her bed. "You really think so?"

"Sure!" Sha agreed. "But I think we can still wait a while, Bella…at least till they're as tall as us!"

The four girls giggled at this comment and Lily left to go brush her teeth. When she came back, the rest of the girls had settled into bed. Vibrance was absorbed in her book, Sha was writing furiously in her diary, and Arabella was highlighting parts of her schedule. Lily pulled up the covers and snuggled beneath them. The bed was wonderfully warm and soft, and she couldn't wait to fall asleep. After a few minutes, each of the girls had finished their respective activities and the lights were turned off. Lily sighed contentedly.

"You know, Lily," Arabella said, stifling a yawn. "I think you and James would be cute…when he grows up."

"I guess," Lily murmured. 

"Yeah," Arabella said. She sounded like she was half talking to herself. "I hope we have a lot of classes with them. Mark my words, Lily, I bet - " another yawn - "I bet they're the best guys there are. In first year - in first year, at least.. I wonder if Sirius…" her voice drifted off to an incomprehensible mutter, and soon stopped completely to be replaced by the sound of her rhythmic breathing.

"Yup," Sha said in a voice slurred with drowsiness. "It's going to be a heck of a year."

"A heck of seven years," Vibrance added sleepily.

***

**A/N: Tadaa! Wow, I am so incredibly proud of myself. One whole chapter! Woo! I tried not to make Peter the evil weaselly person he's so often portrayed as, because…if he hung out with James, Sirius, etc, well…he can't be all bad!! Lol. Besides, he's only eleven. He probably hasn't even _heard _of Voldemort. But anyway, more interesting stuff to come soon, I assure you, I'm skipping a couple years :) I think it gets interesting after this...and hopefully the chapters get longer. I can't seem to find a happy medium between ridiculously long and way too short. Hmph. R/R!**


	3. Divination

A/N: Sorry for the delay in this chapter! I've just had tons of shit to do, and I wasn't entirely sure where I was going with this. But I am now! *grins* I hope I'll appease your anger at the wait by making this a bit longer :)

**Just a heads up: James and Lily now hate each other. It gets kind of explained later on in the chapter, but basically Lily thinks James is a pompous, self-absorbed freak, and James…doesn't like Lily because she thinks he's a pompous, self-absorbed freak :-D **

**R/R!**

***

Lily made her way quickly through the throng of chattering people in the hallway. With muttered excuses of "sorry," she dodged and ducked, hoping to make it to Potions on time.

The bell rang just as she stepped into the classroom, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Vibrance spotted her and tapped the seat nearby eagerly. Professor Gekkon was standing at his desk, arranging some papers. Lily was thankful he had not noticed her - he would have assigned a detention had she not been in her seat a minute _before _the bell rang!

"Late again?" Vi asked with a twinkle in her eye.

"Not this time!" Lily protested as she sat down.

"Uh huh. Probably 'cause you ran the whole way. I'm thinkin' Blake was particularly - "

She was interrupted by the loud slap of a ruler against the desk.

"Do you have something you'd like to share with the class, Ms. Whistarre?" Professor Gekkons asked venomously.

"Uh…no, sir!" Vibrance said quickly. "Sorry, Professor, I was just discussing, er…my - my average! In this class, I mean. Not any other class, of course, because you know I would never _dream _of talking about anything other than potions, because it's just my favorite subject, and - "

"ENOUGH!" the professor roared. His face had turned a brilliant shade of red from anger, which would be quite comical had it not been so horrifying from where Vibrance was sitting. "Ten points from Gryffindor for speaking out of line, and another five for cheek. I require a certain amount of respect in my classroom, and I _will _get it. Is that quite clear to you, Ms. Whistarre?"

"Yes, Professor," Vibrance muttered sullenly.

Professor Gekkon gave her one last evil look before turning on his heel in satisfaction and heading back to his desk, lecturing about some potion Lily did not care about.

"Prick," Vi muttered.

Lily grinned sympathetically at her before turning to fix her eye on the professor. However much she felt for her friend, she was not about to earn herself a reprimand from this…tomato-face, lizard tongued, larger-than-Jupiter - well, prick. She scratched down notes, although she had no clue what on earth he was talking about. 

_Remus'll help me with it, _she thought hopefully.

It had been an interesting year in many respects, so far. The first month of school had already come and gone, and a lot had happened to Lily in that short period of time. _Like the goddamn 'womanly cycles,' _she thought grimly. The lessons were already markedly harder than they had been in either first or second years, the teachers meaner and much more likely to hand out detentions at the blink of an eye.

Still, Lily had her friend to count on - she didn't know what she'd do without them - and there was always Blake.

"Lily Evans!" Professor Gekkon called suddenly.

"Yes, Professor?" Lily asked. She quickly reviewed what she had just subconsciously registered form his lecture.

"What is the key ingredient to making a black-eye potion?"

"Um…that would be three drops…three drops of a - of a werewolf's saliva!" she cried triumphantly.

"Very good, Miss Evans. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, who can tell me what must be done so that the potion can be properly completed? Yes, you in the back, what's your name? Gregory. Go ahead, Gregory…"

Lily's thoughts drifted away, carried by the flow of the Professor's droning voice. Where was she? Oh, Blake.  It had been funny, really. Throughout all second year, the two of them had been good friends - _very _good friends. Arabella had winked, Sha had nudged, and Vi had all but squealed around the two of them. Lily shifted her shoulders a little uncomfortably. As much as she loved her friends, the fact that they were so into her and Blake's relationship bothered her a little. _But, _she thought rationally, _they'll grow out of it when they get their own boyfriends. Besides, I'm just being a little possessive._

Blake had asked her out only a few days after school had started, and she had been happy to say yes. Not that it'd been unexpected, of course…Blake wasn't very circumspect about those things. But the two now spent every spare moment cuddling in corners and sneaking kisses when possible - the very model of two teenagers still giddy with each other.

_And I hope it stays that way forever, _Lily thought sappily.

Vibrance glanced at Lily from the corner of her eye and quirked her lips into a smile. The latter blushed red, sure Vi knew exactly what she was thinking. _How_ did she do that? Lily spent the rest of the class looking very attentively at Professor Gekkons and scribbling down some notes. She'd have plenty of time for other thoughts later.

After class, Arabella and Sha caught up with Vi and Lily in the hallway. All four were headed for the divination classroom, which was almost as far as you could get from the dungeons where potions where taught. Still, they walked slowly and talked about everything; Professor Dehlaney did not seem to care if students came in as much as ten minutes late, so long as they managed to read something in tea leaves or crystal balls. 

"Spill," Vibrance ordered without preamble.

Lily blushed again and shifted the books in her arms. "There's not much to tell," she said slowly. "After Transfiguration, he just…kissed me. A little. And told me he loved me. And then I left." She thought that sounded a bit curt, but there was no other way of putting it without going into…explicit detail. The other girls, though, didn't seem to mind.

"That's so _cute_," Arabella squealed.

"Yeah, and I'll bet you left out a lot of valuable information between 'he kissed me' and 'a little,'" Sha said with an evil grin.

Vibrance smiled at Lily. "I think he really likes you, Lils."

"I hope so!" Lily said a little too loudly.

"Yeah, he definitely does," Arabella said offhandedly. She scanned the crowd, looking for someone. "I could've sworn…Look, there he is! Hey, Sirius! Over here!"

Sirius, a couple feet away, gave a start then waved and grinned to the four girls. He turned to say something to Remus and James, who were also with him. Peter also gave the girls a smile and hitched up his books. Divination was the only class all eight of them had together.

"Hey Bella!" Sirius chirped when the girls had finally reached him. "Hey Vibrance, Sha…" He gave an exaggerated wink. "Hey, Lils!"

Lily laughed and gave him a look of mock warning. "Careful, Sirius! I have a boyfriend and I don't think he'd appreciate your flirting."

Sirius grimaced. "You're right, I should try my luck elsewhere. I am, as of now, rather attached to my limbs. Don't want to have them ripped out, you know."

"Yeah," James said. He smirked at Lily. "That _boyfriend_ of hers is freakishly strong. I don't understand why he's so defensive of Lily, anyway - it's not exactly worth it."

Lily looked at him condescendingly. "Look, Jamesie-poo, just because he's a bit more buff than you'll ever be, doesn't mean you have to be so jealous of him!" She patted his arm and gave him a sickeningly sweet smile. "After all, you can always get by on your brains when your looks fail! I mean…wait! I forgot you don't have any!"

Remus rolled his eyes expressively and yanked Lily away. _He _certainly had no problem competing with Blake. "Cut it out, you guys!" he said with the sound of someone repeating something for the fiftieth time.

"Yeah, seriously," Sha said nonchalantly. "If you guys were any more hostile, I could almost think you luuuuuurve each other!"

Arabella barked a laugh and Peter snickered a little at this. Lily scowled.

"That's real mature, Sha," she said sarcastically.

Sha grinned at her cheekily. "But it's true!"

"You guys," Peter interjected, "We're already going to be several minutes late. Can we try not to make it any more than that?"

"Quiet, Peter," Sirius exclaimed. "This is way more fun than Divination! Don't you agree, Arabella?"

"Oh, definitely, Sirius! I definitely agree…with Peter. We should really get going," Arabella said.

James shrugged. "Not like we learn anything in that class anyway, but…yeah, let's go."

Lily scowled once more at him for good measure before walking next to Vibrance at the very farthest she could get from James.

"I don't know why you hate him so much," Vi said in a low voice. "The rest of the female population seems to think he's some sort of god."

Lily snorted. "Exactly! He's so self-absorbed and arrogant! He thinks the whole bloody world revolves around him, and doesn't give a shit about other people."

"You know that's not true!" Vi said indignantly. "He definitely cares about Remus, and Peter and Sirius. Not to mention Arabella, Sha, and me. And what about Vanessa?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "What _about _her?" she spat. "He pretends to like her just so he can make out with her every opportunity he gets, and then dumps her within a week! Only to get some other poor sap who's too fluff-brained to realize James Potter isn't what people think he is!"

"Lily," sighed Vi in exasperation, "why don't you have more tolerance for people?"

"I have _plenty _of tolerance for people," Lily retorted. "But none for James Potter."

She moved then to chat with Arabella and Sha, as well as exchange a few bantering words with Sirius, who always jumped at any opportunity to flirt outrageously with her and Arabella. Lily suspected he flirted with her specifically because she was dating someone. As for Arabella, however, she had no idea why Sirius would take interest in her. Then again, she shouldn't be surprised…Sirius was the biggest flirt in the year, except the few times when James was single. 

Professor Dehlaney looked at the group vaguely when they finally entered the room. She did not seem to register anything about them, only that they were an interruption to her class.

"I sense a disturbance in the waves of destiny," she said mysteriously. "Something great will happen. Something great, and yet insignificant. Evil, but good. It will happen soon, but who knows? Perhaps it will happen late."

A few girls who were easily impressed by the teacher's words began tittering in the back. Lily rolled her eyes expressively and leaned over to Sha.

"That's just vague enough to work!" she whispered. Sha stifled a laugh behind her hand.

Professor Dehlaney made a great show of blinking and twisting her head around, feigning surprise. She brought a beringed hand dramatically to her forehead.

"I must have slipped into a daze… The inner eye knows no time, children. It may see when you least expect," she said in a hushed voice.

Sirius gave the girls a poke and began mimicking the Professor silently, only adding a hefty amount of eye-twitching. He finished by falling dramatically to the ground and giving one last spasm. Arabella and Sha couldn't help themselves - they erupted into laughter.

"Something you find amusing, Ms. Figg? Ms. Brown?" asked Professor Dehlaney in an icy voice.

"Yes," Sha said boldly. She jabbed Arabella (who was still laughing) sharply in the ribs with her elbow, causing the latter to fall to the ground sputtering. "Our inner eyes predict amusement in the near future. A good joke, you know. You know about jokes, don't you, Professor?"

Professor Dehlaney gave her a withering stare - one that Sha chose to ignore - and adjusted her purple shawl.

" You obviously do not understand the _depths _that the Eye delves into. Why, it would be too much for your untrained mind to handle. The Eye does not make _jokes_, my dear child. You must have misinterpreted," she lectured.

"Sure it does!" Sirius said brightly. "Just the other day, in fact - "

"That's enough, Mr. Black!" Professor Dehlaney snapped. "I will hear no more on the matter!" She twitched at her shawl once more and looked at the rest of the class. "Today, we will begin palmistry. It is not so difficult as some other aspects of Divination, but it does require a certain amount of focus. You will partner up to begin, and I expect it to be done quickly. Begin…now!"

There was a flurry of movement in the classroom. Remus and Peter paired off with little more than a flicker of the eye and Vi and Sha did the same. Several of the other students had already formed their pairs. Arabella, inexplicably, grabbed at Sirius' arm and raised an eyebrow. Sirius gave her a cheeky grin and looked at James apologetically. Before she quite knew what was happening, Lily was by herself while the rest of the class picked some pillows to sit on. Almost by herself. One other person seemed to be without a partner, and that person was - 

"Mr. Potter, find a partner and sit down, please."

James grimaced and looked around desperately. Deciding to take his chances, he said, "There's no one left, Professor. Can I join with Remus and Peter?"

"Don't be daft, Potter," said Professor Dehlaney impatiently. "Miss Evans is standing right there. Now the two of you better sit down before I lose my temper!"

Lily scowled at him and went to sit in the only available space, which was a considerable distance from her nearest friend. James looked positively murderous as he sat down as far away as possible from her while still being in the same general area.  

"Now that that's settled," said the professor, "we can begin. Take you partner's hand and notice the lines in his or her palm."

Lily and James eyed each other like strange cats for a moment. Finally, Lily sighed in exasperation and stuck out her hand so quickly she almost slapped James. Her small smirk told him it was not entirely accidental. He held her wrist with his thumb and index finger and tugged.

"Ow! That hurts, Potter!" she muttered.

"It's supposed to," he snarled back.

"Now," Professor Dehlaney said loudly, shooting them a warning look, "notice the line depicted on page 42 of your books. This is the longevity line. Observe how long it is, according to what's written, and inform your partner. Then try to notice any oddities in the line. This shows exciting or meaningful events in your partner's life. I will give you a few minutes to do this, then we will move on to the next important line."

James glanced at his open book on the ground. "Looks like you'll be dead by tomorrow!" he said in a happy voice.

"Ha ha, Potter," Lily said sarcastically. "You're bloody hilarious, you know that?"

"Yeah, I do," he said casually. 

Lily rolled her eyes. "What about oddities? Notice any of those?" She tried to look at her hand closer but James yanked it away from her. Lily glared at him. "Come _on_, Potter, just do something right for once in your miserable life!"

James bared his teeth at her in something that was obviously not intended to be a smile. "I'm getting there, my bonfire-haired friend," he said mockingly. Lily looked menacingly at him and he quickly looked down at her hand. "Um…ok. Here…that'd be - " he glanced at his book again - "a few years from now, I guess, your line branches out. And then after that, there's a little skip…thing. And more branching out. And then it gets all thin and weird looking. Like every other bloody line on your bloody hand."

"Thank you, Jamesie," Lily gushed, doing a fairly good impression of all the other girls in third year. "That was like, sooooo informative!"

"I know it was," James said blandly. He looked across the room, obviously hoping to get some sympathy from his friends, but Remus and Peter were behind another group and Sirius was thoroughly engrossed in Arabella's hand. Lily was almost positive he would be making allusions to himself throughout the whole longevity palm reading.

"All right, your time is up," said the professor after a few more moments of glaring between Lily and James. "I hope that was very informative for you all, and that you used your book in order to interpret what you saw." Lily gave James a flat look at this, and he gave her a disarming grin. She sniffed. "Now," Professor Dehlaney continued, "please switch roles and do the same for your partner. I'll give you less time, this time - you must become accustomed to seeing these things without having to look them up."

Lily reached out to grab James' wrist, and he quickly twitched it away from her. She reached out for it again, and he pulled it a little further.

"Potter, you git," she said through gritted teeth, "why don't you just give me your fucking hand so we can get this over with? I _really _don't like this anymore than _you _do, but I intend to get a good grade in this CLASS!"

At "class," she leaped forward and tried to grab his hand again. James had anticipated this, though, and quickly leaned back. Lily, carried by her momentum and unable to stop, landed squarely on James, winding him for a moment. He gasped for breath and stopped moving his hand away. Lily jumped at this occasion and grabbed his wrist before giving him a final punch in the ribs for good measure. James grunted and narrowed his eyes at her. She grinned at him.

"I hate you, Evans," he muttered, and spat in her face.

Lily laid on him, stunned, for a moment, then let out a deafening shriek and grabbed his hair in a death grip. She twisted it fiercely and yanked on it as hard as she could. James snarled at her and kneed her in the stomach. She rolled off him with a groan, and he pounced atop her.

"Children!" Professor Dehlaney shouted. "Children, stop this at once!"

Lily and James were past caring, though, being too engrossed on unleashing all the hate they had between them…on each other. James grinned nastily at Lily. He kept her pinned with a knee on each of her shoulders, straddling her. He made an elaborate show of licking his hand before spitting in it. And spitting in it again. And again.

"You like palmistry, do you?" he asked threateningly. "Well why don't you HAVE SOME MORE?"

He stuck his hand in Lily's face, rubbing it harshly. Lily let out another screech and bit his hand. Hard. He yelled and tried to pull it loose, but she held on grimly. Her hands, however, were still pinned, so she writhed futilely beneath him, trying to provoke more damage.  

At this point, the whole class was watching with ill-concealed interest, and none more so than Sirius. He hooted and pumped his fist in the air.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" he shouted gleefully. "Let's go, you guys! Show us what you've got! James, use your other hand and - "

He was silenced by a slap from Sha, but not before having infuriated Lily and James even more. Lily was getting desperate, though. Her arms were useless, and James had begun using his other hand to punch _her _in the ribs. All of the sudden, an idea struck her. She tugged hard with her teeth, then let go. James was surprised by this and momentarily leaned back. That was all Lily needed.

With a wordless shout, she hooked her right leg around James' neck. James' eyes popped and he fell back with her leg, freeing both her arms. Sensing victory, Lily leaped on him once more and began pummeling him with her fists.

"STOP THIS AT ONCE!" shouted Professor Dehlaney. She had placed a sonorous charm on her voice, and combined with the shouting, this made the students' ears ring. Lily stopped mid-punch and rolled off James as fast as she could. Her hair was in every direction, her fingers bruised, and her face flamed redder than her hair.

"I have never - never, in all my years of teaching, witnessed such a  - such an OUTRAGE!" Professor Dehlaney all but shook with indignation. Her face was redder than Lily's, but for a much different emotion. The entire class was dead silent. Lily flinched, and even James looked a bit cowed.

"Detention!" the professor screeched. "Detention for both of you! A _month _of detention! And thirty points from each of your houses! Thirty! I can assure you the Headmaster will hear of this!"

Lily's jaw dropped. Thirty points _each_? That was sixty points from Gryffindor! She hung her head in shame. 

"Now. You will leave at once for the hospital wing. I expect twice the amount of parchment for your homework, which you will need to obtain from someone else. Go!"

Lily and James scuttled out, embarrassed and defeated.

***

After they had been healed of their injuries - a great deal of bruises, and some bleeding from James, as well as a dull ache on his scalp - Lily and James sat with their respective friends for dinner. Remus, Peter, Sirius, and the girls had agreed it might be best to keep James and Lily apart for a while to let them cool off (usually, they would all sit together.)

Lily was silent as she chewed, but Vi could almost see a stormcloud above her head. Her features were much too smooth.

"So," Arabella said tentatively. "How about them quidditch players!"

Lily gave her a death glare and returned to her food. Arabella coughed in her hand.

"Oook," she said. "Maybe not."

Sha snorted. "Stop sulking, Lily, it makes you ugly. Personally, I think you kicked some serious ass! And you would have kicked more if that old bat hadn't intervened."

Lily smiled a tiny bit at this. "Yeah, I would have," she admitted, no bothering to keep the smugness from her voice. "But…what about those sixty points?"

Arabella waved her hand dismissively. "Who cares? Sure, people'll be mad at you for a while…but let's face it, Gryffindor is the house that sucks up the most. We'll win those points back, no sweat. And we have the best quidditch team, if you ask me."

"Yeah," Vibrance said. "Especially since our chaser is Ja-"

Sha kicked her in the shin, but not before Lily had heard. 

"Especially since our chaser is James bloody Potter," she spat, bristling like an angry cat. "God, I hate him."

For once, Vi kept her mouth shut about tolerance of others, sensing that a mention of it would likely send Lily into hysterics. Instead, she picked a dessert off the table and started eating it, pretending not to have heard.

"Well that's all fine and dandy," said Sha, "but you still have that detention to worry about. I can imagine it won't be too much fun…and it's a month long."

Lily grimaced. "I _know_. A month with that brat. And I bet I'll need to go see Dumbledore, too. Is it just me, or does he make bad things happen to me?"

Sha and Arabella wisely kept their mouths shut at this comment, and Vibrance changed the subject.

"Yeah, well. There's no point in whining about it now, and I know you know that, Lily," she said, picking _another _dessert from the rich assortment. Lily wondered how she managed to stay so thin. "You should try to think about - "

She was interrupted when Remus' head popped in between her and Lily.

"Hey," he said quietly to Lily. "Dumbledore wants to see you and James now. He's right over there."

***

A/N: Oooooooh, cliffhanger. Teeheeheeheeehee. Sorry if I went a little overboard on the fighting, but it was just so much fun to write!! Heh. Please write me a friendly review, and I will love you forever. *blows kisses*


	4. A Warning and a Prank

A/N: *buries face in hands* I'm so SORRY! I'm such a bad author! *sob* There's absolutely NO excuse for the tardiness of this chapter, so I won't make one. I only meekly beg that you review :) Even though I've been mean and irresponsible…accept my humble apologies!

***

Lily stood up from her seat and walked to where Remus had pointed. Professor Dumbledore was waiting with his hands behind his back, looking very solemn indeed. James was already there. His eyes were fixed to the floor, and his face devoid of expression.

"Glad you decided to join us, Miss Evans. Follow me, please," said Dumbledore curtly.

James and Lily exchanged a rare look containing neither spite nor anger - only fear. Students were not called to the headmaster's office every day, after all. The three of them walked quickly, Lily and James having to stretch their strides in order to keep up with Dumbledore. Finally, the bearded man reached a statue and muttered a password Lily did not quite catch. The statue moved aside and Dumbledore strode inside without waiting for neither James nor Lily, whose robes were almost caught when it swung back shut.

They walked through a dark corridor for a while, sparsely lit by torches that gave the whole place a spooky look. Lily gulped and tried hard not to remember old muggle tales of evil wizards and what they did in the dark of night. She wanted to hold someone's hand - anyone's, even James - but instead kept her fists clenched at her side. If James could put on a show of courage, so could she. 

Finally, the three of them reached Dumbledore's cluttered office. The headmaster took a seat on a large chair behind his desk. He did not ask Lily or James to sit down, but instead poured himself something to drink at his leisure. He said nothing for several minutes, and only Lily's shuffling feet broke the silence. She was nervous and scared and didn't like this one bit.

_With my luck, _she thought bitterly, _I'll probably be expelled. But if I am, I'll make sure I take James with me. _

She held on to this to this grim thought as though it was the only thing keeping her from screaming and bolting out the door, so strong was the tension. Come to think of it, perhaps it _was _the only thing that kept her from taking off at once. Her hatred for James created extraordinary strength, sometimes.

Finally, Dumbledore gave a small sigh and looked at them both. Lily noticed with satisfaction that this time, James shifted his feet a bit too. Dumbledore put down his mug of whatever it was he was drinking.

"Well," he said quietly. Lily broke out into a sweat with just that word. "Well, well. I must admit, I would never have thought it from either of you. A-students, both, high scores on exams - and liked by most, if not all, teachers."

James opened his mouth at this moment, but Dumbledore stifled his argument with a raise of his hand.

"Patience, Mister Potter. I will give you a chance to defend yourself. But let me make myself clear right away. What you did was _very _serious indeed, and the consequences…the consequences must reflect this. Do you agree, Miss Evans?"

Lily nodded silently. She suddenly wished for a chair; her legs no longer felt as though they could support her weight.

"Now," said Dumbledore, shuffling some papers on his desk. "I will give you each a chance to explain yourselves - one chance, mind! - before I decide whether or not it is necessary to suspend you from the school, in addition to your present detentions."

It was all Lily could do not to collapse to the floor just then. _Suspension_? Her parents would be furious! Lethal! They took great pride in Lily's being a witch, and if she got suspended…Lily shivered to think of the consequences.

James ran his tongue over pale lips, and his eyes widened. Obviously this was not going over too well with him, either. Dumbledore, however, did not seem to notice. He looked at Lily.

"You first, Miss Evans."

Lily took a deep breath and prayed her power of speech did not fail her then. She clasped her hands behind her to keep them from trembling.

"Well, you see, professor, we were in Divination - one of the three classes I have with him. We started - we started palmistry and…um…I was supposed to read his palm." She wet her lips quickly and took a deep breath. "I reached for his hand, but he twitched it away from me, so I reached for it again. He really was being insufferable, sir, and - "

"Insufferable?" James cried in outrage. "_Excuse me? _Who's the one who practically wrung the hair off my _head_?"

"Mr. Potter!" Dumbledore said sternly. "Do not make this worse for yourself!"

James clicked his mouth shut, but the look of sullen defiance never left his face. His outburst had given Lily a bit more courage, and she went on with her chin a little higher. Perhaps that chair wasn't necessary after all.

"_Anyway_," she continued, "I leaned to go get it, and fell over. I was finally able to get his hand. That's about when James decided to spit in my face…"

"After you _punched _me!" James practically shouted.

"Well you deserved it!" Lily shouted back. "If you hadn't made such a - such a _damn _big deal of everything, I wouldn't have had to! But you always have to make things so difficult, don't you, James?"

James snorted. "_Difficult_? Look who's talking, Little-Miss-Prissy! If you were any more frigid, it's be winter the whole bloody year!"

Lily glowered furiously at him and raised her hand slightly, preparing for a slap. James was just as red-faced as he was, and his attitude practically invited her hand to his cheek. Before she could get any further, though, Lily was interrupted and brought back to reality.

"That will be quite enough," said Dumbledore. He was very quiet. "I think I see exactly what the problem is."

Lily's eyes widened in mortification, and she fell to the floor with a loud thump. James snickered quietly at her, but Lily suspected he would have done the same had she not beaten him to it.

"Miss Evans, Mister Potter," Dumbledore said, "it is obvious to me you have some differences to work out. I trust you will do so, so I do not have to take matters in my own hands. You will go through with the month's detention assigned to you, whatever it may be. I suspect Professor Dehlaney will be quite harsh. You know," he continued, and for a minute his eyes twinkled, and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "You gave her quite a fright. I suspect she never saw that in her crystal ball." 

Lily smiled nervously and hauled herself to her feet. James looked as sullen as ever.

"Well, I think that's all, don't you? Yes. You may go now," said Dumbledore. He began leafing through a pile of papers, picking out one or two that he scanned quickly with half a mind. 

Lily, unsure what to do, looked to James. He was already several paces down the hallway. Not wanting to be left alone, she scurried after him. James gave her a dirty look when she reached his side but said nothing, only clasped his hands behind his back.

"Well," Lily said cheerily, "that could have been worse."

"Shut up, Evans," James said quietly.

Lily gave him a deathly glare and closed her mouth. Then she gave a contemptuous sniff and stalked away from him.

James grinned cheekily to himself.

*** 

When Lily had finally reached the common room after a bit of wandering - the halls were blessedly empty at this time of day, and she rather enjoyed it - her friends immediately pounced on her. Arabella, who had been reading in an armchair, got to her first.

"Lily! Where've you been? James got here almost half an hour ago! He went off to talk with the other guys, though…" She scowled in the direction of the boys' dormitories. "So we didn't hear anything. And everyone is already in bed, even though it's really early." Her eyes sparkled. "Word is, something's going on tonight…I have no idea what it is, though. I guess we'll see, huh?"

"Anyway," Vibrance cut in, "the point Bella's trying to get to in her roundabout way is…what happened in Dumbledore's office?"

"It was weird," Lily said slowly, "he didn't give us any extra punishment. I really expected him to do something, but - "

"He's just a really nice guy," Sha finished for her.

"I guess," Lily said. "But he seemed pretty intent on expelling the both of us, at first. So I told my side of the story…"

"I'm sure it was perfectly accurate, too," Arabella grinned.

Lily glared at her. "Do you _mind?__"_

"Obviously not!" Arabella said happily. "Go on, we're dying to hear what happened."

Lily threw up her hands in exasperation. "You've been hanging around Sirius _way too much. Anyway…Where was I? Oh. So I told my side of the story, right? And James interrupts me once, and Dumbledore gets all mad at him. So I got to the part where James spit in my face - "_

"After you punched him," Sha said judiciously.

"Yes," Lily said through gritted teeth. "_Mister Potter kindly pointed that out to me too. Which was about when we started a shouting match…"_

Vi threw up her hands in a fair imitation of Lily only minutes earlier. "You guys, I swear!" she cried, exasperated. "Can't you spend two minutes without being at each other's _throats?"_

Lily grinned at her. "Nope!"

"So what happened after that?" Arabella prodded.

"Well…Dumbledore told us to stop, and he said he 'knew what the problem was.' I'm not sure what that means, but he seemed amused when he said it. Which disturbs me."

"As it should!" chirped Arabella.

"Er…yes," Lily said uncertainly. "And then he just said we had our detentions and everything, and he let us go. It was totally messed up."

"Yes," Vi said. "Yes it was. I think we should go to the dormitories now…I'm dying to know what's going on!"

"I agree," Sha said happily. She grabbed Lily and Arabella's arms and began dragging them towards the staircase. "Let's go!"

***

Up in the boys' dorm, excitement was thick. James shared a room with Remus, Sirius, Peter, and several other boys who were, for the most part, oblivious to what the four were discussing.

"I still cannot believe," said Sirius while pulling on a black turtleneck, "that you got away with it."

"Yeah, not kidding!" Remus put it. "We were sure Dumbledore would fry you."

James shrugged nonchalantly and pulled on black gloves. "Me too. But I guess that Evans prat sucked up to him enough that he let us off the hook." He grimaced, possibly at the notion of saying something vaguely complementary about Lily. "But that's all for later. You got the map, Peter?"

"Right here," Peter said, pulling out a rolled up piece of parchment. He too, was dressed all in black.

James held out his hand. "Give it here, I need to make sure I know where I'm going."

Peter handed him the map, which depicted all of Hogwarts, complete with all the secret passageways he four boys had discovered. A simple spell and tap of the wand changed the area of the castle you were looking at. James peered at it a minute, engraving a certain part of the school in his mind, then nodded and handed the map back to the other boy.

"I think I got it…Sirius, you sure the rat'll follow?"

Sirius gave him a trademark grin and sat down on the bed. "Definitely," he said, flexing his hands and arms. "There's no WAY he couldn't know what's going on, and knowing him…well, he can't keep his slimy nose out of anything."

Peter snickered at this, and Sirius grinned at him wolfishly.

"Good," said James in a businesslike manner. "Now…who's bringing the matches?"

He pulled from his trunk a gigantic firework, a full two feet in diameter and three high. Both his arms were wrapped protectively around it, and his grin split his face in half.

"I am," Remus began, "but James, don't you think - "

He was interrupted by Sirius who, with a wondrous look in his eyes, put his arm around James' shoulder in a friendly way.

"James, comrade," he said grandly, "you must tell me where in _hell _you've obtained that thing…so I can congratulate you."

"That, _comrade_," James said, ducking out from under his arm, "is a story for another day. Everyone ready?"

Peter and Remus nodded solemnly, and Sirius all but squeaked with anticipation. The four gave the others in the dorm a look that spoke volumes and disappeared out the portrait hole.

"Peter," James whispered, "you know what to do. Go ahead. Sirius, you stay with me. Remus, since you're the quietest, you go ahead and make sure the coast is clear! We'll count to twenty before following you."

"Right!" Peter said in a hushed voice. He turned on his foot and disappeared in the shadows, towards the Slytherin's dorm. Remus echoed him and crept the other way, his eyes shifting furtively, searching for any unwelcome intruders.

"Start counting," James muttered.

"One…two…three…four…twenty-seven…sixty-five…"

"Sirius!" James hissed.

"Right, right! Sorry. Eight…nine…ten…"

When Sirius reached twenty, James motioned him silently and followed in Remus' footsteps. There were no signs indicating that teachers were in the hallway, so James moved fairly quickly. At one point, a few feet from the Grand Hall, he leaned over to Sirius.

"Is he following?" he whispered.

Sirius chanced a quick glance behind him. A shadow leaped behind a wall, but not before he had spotted it.

"Yes, he whispered back. Only a few yards back…"

"Good," said James. "Look skulkier!"

"I'm doing my skulkiest, your skulkiness," Sirius muttered.

"Shut up, Sirius," James hissed back.

They went along through the great hall and over to the statue that stood before the entrance to Dumbledore's office. It looked much more imposing in the dark, and James shivered slightly against his will remembering what could have come out of his visit to it.

"I was beginning to think you'd never come," said Remus quietly. James had not even seen him in the shadows.

"Sirius had a little counting problem," James said. "Look, let's hurry up with this. Where's the match?"

"Right here," Remus replied, brandishing the article in his hand.

"Ok," James whispered. "You light it, and we'll make enough noise so he'll come looking over here. Peter should already be at the entrance, waiting to cover for us."

"I know, I know" Sirius said impatiently. "Can I go set it up now?"

"Yeah, go ahead," James answered. 

Sirius tiptoed over between two chairs lying directly in front of the firework, which James had placed on the floor. Deftly, Sirius pulled out a piece of string and tied an end to each of the chairs. After making sure it was taut enough to work, he took a few steps back and took out a pot. 

"Sirius," Remus said, irritated, "will you stop snickering and get on with it?"

"Yes, sir!" Sirius said smartly. 

He dipped a sort of spatula into pot and spread its substance out a few feet from the string. Careful not to step in it, he returned to the other two.

"Ready," he whispered, his voice breathless with excitement. "Let's do this."

Remus lighted a match and held it up obviously. The shadow that had been tracking them since the hallways moved noticeable closer. Remus quickly touched the flame to the fuse and blew out the match.

"Let's go," he whispered urgently.

James said loudly, "Gosh, if anyone catches us, we're toast! I hope we can get away, Sirius!"

The shadow finally showed itself. Severus Snape emerged, running, from between two tables. He had a look of triumph on his face at finally catching his foes in the act. James gave him a grim smile, turned, and fled with Remus and Sirius. Severus kept running, unable to see the statue only a few yards away. Suddenly, his foot caught something. It couldn't be. Flailing his arms wildly, he tried in vain to regain his balance.

His face hit the ground heavily, but instead of feeling the cool hardness of the floor, he found instead a sticky gunk. Severus jerked his head, succeeding only in ripping out a large chunk of hair and releasing some shrieks of pain from his throat. Suddenly, his eyes caught something. A light. A light, that seemed to be getting close to something…

_They wouldn't_, Severus thought wildly. _Even them, even they wouldn't…_

The only thing he could do was close his eyes and pray when the fuse finally reached the large, red body of the firework.

***

James settled into bed soon after Remus, Peter, and Sirius had. Their black clothes had been discarded and shoved at the very bottom of the trunks. All traces of evidence had been carefully eliminated by James, except for one small thing.

On Sirius' nightstand, a large round pot sat that read:

"Gobblygunk's Superglue! Glues anything, anywhere! Guaranteed to outlast its owner. CAUTION: Very, very sticky."

***

A/N: Hooha, mad fun! Heh. I really want to write fluff, but for your (collective audience's) sake, I finished up this chapter with action. Be happy, blast you all! Oh, and go see When Harry Met Sally if you haven't already. I promise you, you won't be disappointed! It is THE ultimate L/J movie, I'm dead serious :) Please R/R!


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